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Marietta, OH

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Transparency and authenticity defined

May 16, 2011 by Margie Clayman 8 Comments

Sometimes, a word becomes viral and everyone starts to use it. In Social Media, words are going viral all the time. Bloggers use the word influencer, then passion, then transparency, then maybe authenticity, engagement *cough* and others. But here’s the thing. I am pretty sure we are all working on different definitions of all of these words.

Most of the time, that’s kind of okay. However, there are two words that I think might be leading people astray when it comes to simultaneously making money and engaging online. Those two words are transparency and authenticity. I thought I would offer you my definitions here, but these are in no way authoritative. I’m open to suggestions!

Transparency: When you think of transparency, you think of something that’s kind of see-through. It’s transparently obvious, for example. Somewhere along the way, though, I think transparency in the world of Social Media morphed into meaning, “Does not sell online.”

I’m not really sure how that happened or when that happened, but it may be having dastardly effects upon efforts to build business using Social Media.

Here is what transparency means to me.

• It is obvious who is presenting your content. People know who is blogging & tweeting for you

• It is obvious what your intent is online, meaning people know what you’re trying to sell

• It is obvious when you are getting paid to do something (like affiliate links)

• It is obvious when you are using a client/customer for a case study or example

Transparency should not be thought of as a cage that restricts. It should be thought of more like a glass house. You can do whatever you want, but you should not be afraid to show anyone who pops by what you’re up to. There should not be any deep dark secrets.

Authenticity: Authenticity is a close cousin to transparency. In the online world, it is the act of proving that you are not a spammer or a person who will drive people to links that have flashing dollar signs on them. There is not really a methodology for proving authenticity online other than to just be authentic and real. However, I think some people translate this as meaning that you cannot sell online because that would make people doubt your authenticity.

Enter transparency.

If you begin your online presence with transparency, part of the process of building your authenticity will be earning respect and trust as a manufacturer or psychologist or author or whatever you are. If you introduce yourself to people on Twitter as an author and you don’t tweet at them every 5 minutes that they should buy your book, you are building trust as a real person who happens to be an author. If they ask you about your writing or if they ask something related to your writing, you can respond authentically because your motives are transparent.

The two work hand in hand.

Where the danger lurks

There are a lot of pitfalls that can trap the innocent and/or new, and I think these pitfalls are so grey and blurry that they scare people away from trying to build their businesses online. For example, it’s extremely easy to see a tweet that someone has sent out with a link. The tweet makes the link seem interesting and you’re in a rush, so you retweet it without checking. It turns out to be a spam attack which you have now sent to your followers. This can harm peoples’ view of your authenticity.

One problem I have encountered a few times is registering for a webinar that seemed interesting only to find that it was pretty much a promotional event for a book. This damages my view of that person’s authenticity, and it is also an instance of their not being fully transparent. Similarly, I once clicked on a link from a reputable person that I thought was going to take me to a blog post, and instead it was a plea for SXSW votes.

These are things you don’t want to do.

But what do you think?

This is how I define these words as they relate to the online space, and these are my guesses as to why some people may feel that selling online is not transparent or is not authentic.

But really, I want to hear what you think about these words. How can one engage with transparency? How can one engage in an authentic or an inauthentic way?

Share your thoughts! I’d love to hear them.

This is post #55 in The Engagement Series. I hope you’re finding this series useful!

Image by John Boyer. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/SailorJohn

Filed Under: Marketing Talk

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ashvini says

    May 16, 2011 at 3:27 am

    Hi Marjorie,

    Many times , I have provided my email id when I see something interesting discussion. I have however found that most of them turn out as sales pitches. So I get spammed as
    “Buy now”, “Buy now and get 15% off”, prices going up etc etc.
    I simply do is to shut off the door immediately and they lose me forever.

    I liked reading your post . It has some great points.

    Best regards,
    Ashvini

    Reply
    • Margie Clayman says

      May 16, 2011 at 7:46 pm

      Thanks, Ashvini. Yes, it definitely is a big problem. I’m not sure why people don’t think more carefully about things like that. They have to know it won’t make us happy, right? 🙂

      Reply
      • Ashvini says

        May 17, 2011 at 2:13 am

        Hi Margie,
        I think it is the desperation to make a sale that causes this thing to occur. If there is someone handling sales they ought to show the results before quarter and they will use all classic sals techniques like “squeeze page”. The moment you want to walk off the page, there is a pop asking you “please dont go”. I dont know how much they make in short term but in long term they don’t stand a chance.
        Organization and sales should work together to gently nudge the customer to sales not to push them off the cliff.

        it is wonderful discussing with you. Thanks
        Ashvini

        Reply
        • Margie Clayman says

          May 17, 2011 at 7:55 am

          Oh, I hate those guilt trip tactics. You’re right, it would be interesting to see if those work at all!

          Thanks – great conversing with you as well 🙂

          Reply
  2. Kat Caverly says

    May 16, 2011 at 8:53 am

    When I think of transparency and authenticity, I am reminded of Lionel Trilling’s book, “Sincerity and Authenticity”, which is the seminal tome of the culture that sprang from the 1950s, 1960s.

    In this age that celebrates belonging and sharing, often personas are created for a variety of purposes. Sometimes this leads to insincerity and inauthenticity, but that isn’t inevitable. I am encouraged by even the lip service that is now paid to authenticity. I am thrilled that it still has meaning.

    Great post Margie.

    Reply
    • Margie Clayman says

      May 16, 2011 at 7:48 pm

      Great comment, Kat. I’ll have to check out that book!

      Your note about personas is a great footnote for this subject. There isn’t really a way for us to tell when someone is “putting on” a persona unless it cracks, and then we say, “Woah, yikes. Put persona back on please!!!”

      I think you can tell a bit who is being most true to themselves, however, because a level of comfort is easy to spot in such folks.

      Thanks for your comment, and I’m so glad you liked the post 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Fostering Community Engagement Through Social Media: The Importance of Branding, Two-way Communication, and Authenticity and Transparency | Broadway PR says:
    December 12, 2014 at 12:09 pm

    […] We all know that social media has increasingly become a staple in the public relations field. I set out to find out how public relations practitioners can leverage the power of social media to foster community engagement with their publics. I began by analyzing existing literature relating to social media. In doing so, I came across three trends representing tools organizations must use in order to promote community engagement through social media: branding, two-way communication, and authenticity and transparency. […]

    Reply
  2. Becoming an Authentic Blogger – Jasmine L. Maitland says:
    April 14, 2016 at 8:36 pm

    […] Transparency and Authenticity Defined […]

    Reply

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Previous Post: « Defining the line between engagement and selling
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